Sandy Bay residents have failed in their bid to convince the Hobart City Council to pause plans for a new ferry terminal on the River Derwent at Lords Beach.
At a meeting on Monday night, councillors endorsed plans to move forward with designing a terminal at the location south-east of Wrest Point.
This decision came despite some residents claiming they were left in the dark about the proposal until just days before the meeting.
Several residents voiced their frustrations, highlighting concerns about the lack of transparency and potential community impacts.
“It’s going to go out further than the current jetties, it’s going to be a bit of an eyesore, there’ll be public toilets, we don’t know the hours of operation, the noise level, frequency and all those things,” one resident said.
“I think that the public deserves consultation before the council pushes through a ramrod type of decision to approve it willy-nilly.”
“We haven’t been consulted,” said another. “A number of the residents I met this afternoon didn’t even get the letter we got. They haven’t been contacted.”
Residents proposed pausing the project to allow for public feedback on other identified potential locations, such as the Scout Hall off Marieville Esplanade or down the road at Long Beach.
Council CEO Michael Stretton said engagement with the community would take place now that Lords Beach had been identified as the preferred site.
This is in stark contrast to how the Clarence City Council came to nominate its preferred site at Natone Street, which was decided after feedback from the community was sought.
“We acknowledge that there hasn’t been engagement yet,” Stretton said.
“But we needed to understand that this is the preferred location and then undertake the engagement with the community.”
“It’s a bit of cart before the horse to be not talking to the residents. I understand that there’s been some uncertainty around that today but the clear intent of the council is to talk to the community now.”
By approving the site, the council has authorised the CEO to advance the project by finalising designs, submitting necessary applications and seeking contractors to build the terminal.
The decision was supported by Councillors Mike Dutta, Ryan Posselt, Gemma Kitsos, Ben Lohberger, Bill Harvey, Zelinda Sherlock and Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds.
Councillors Louise Elliot, Will Coates, John Kelly, Louise Bloomfield and Marti Zucco opposed the move, citing deep concerns about the lack of initial consultation and transparency.
Councillor Kelly expressed hope that residents would not pursue an elector poll, as has been done by those opposing plans to install cycle lanes on Collins Street due to similar concerns about a lack of consultation.
“The last thing we want to see happen down there is similar to what’s happened to Collins Street,” he said.
“The spectre of this is looming and I’m getting nervous already about this.”
